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Sport and Leisure

Designing The Downhill
It’s the ninth time he’s designed the Olympic downhill ski course, but Bernhard Russi will still feel his nerves tauten when racing gets under way in South Korea next month. Further playing on his nerves, though, is the knowledge of the extreme risks faced by the men and women trying to conquer the course he has set. (Downhill skiing, Winter Olympics, safety.)Advanced

Dancing on Ice
It is a very cold morning in Budapest. Elderly Hungarians are ice dancing in the beautiful City Park Ice Rink. They skate to keep fit. (Old people and fitness, the present continuous tense, ice dancing.)Elementary

Soccer Speaks
On a muggy day in late July, dozens of student refugees ran relentlessly after a soccer ball, stopping only to help up a fellow player who had slipped. (Writing questions, matching sentence beginnings and endings, ordering a text, giving an opinion)Upper-Intermediate

Olympic Accommodation
For the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the largest athletes' village in the long history of the Games was unveiled. (The Olympic Village, treatment of athletes, hosting an international event, sport.)Pre-Intermediate Lesson Updated: 25 July 2016

Team Refugee
Angeline Nadai Lohalith would like to see peace in South Sudan so she could march for her country at the Olympic Games. But Lohalith will march under the flag of the Refugee Olympic team at the 2016 Games in Rio. "I can pass a message to the world that, refugees can also do what other people can do. They should not be looked down upon," Lohalith said. (Olympics, refugees, displaced people)Elementary

Age No Barrier
Age is no barrier to Mark Todd, equestrian knight and double Olympic eventing gold medalist, even if disbelieving bus drivers may still demand to see the New Zealander's pass at the Rio Games in August. (Olympics, eventing, older people, sport, ‘by’ + ‘ing’.)Intermediate

Woman Punches Through
Sweat drips from Arafat Abkar's face as she [boxes] in an open-air arena in Khartoum's summer heat... "When I train, more spectators watch because women's boxing is new... in Sudan," the 22-year-old said. (Women's sports, Sudan, boxing) Pre-Intermediate

Square Dancing Disturbance
Chinese-style square dancing is becoming much more popular for the elderly, with millions taking to parks and plazas across China, swiveling their hips and rolling their arms - but it's not to everyone's liking.Intermediate

The World's Best Santa
Santas from eight countries like Japan, Sweden, Australia and France competed to find out who was the best Santa. They competed in porridge-eating, sledge racing and other sports. The winner for 2014 is from Japan. (Class vote, discussion, ordering questions, comprehension, true or false.)Elementary

Children's Games
Very few kids get the amount of physical activity they need every day, but a new study from Canada finds that parental support may be the key to getting kids moving and pushing kids into specializing in a single sport before adolescence is not seen as a good idea. (Exercise and children, parental input, sport, children, Olympics) Upper-Intermediate

Tennis Riddles
As a player Andre Agassi relied as much on a razor-sharp tennis brain as brute force to collect eight major titles and complete a career grand slam. Now his eyes light up at the prospect of following the likes of Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker into coaching. (Coaching, Andre Agassi, tennis, compound adjectives, talking about sporting events.)Advanced

Robots
Tiny recon robots have introduced a new generation of drones at a DSEI defense fair in London. Robots that can talk, find [lost] glasses, draw airplanes and play with your children attracted thousands of visitors at another expo. Robot nurses may soon be helping the sick by telling them when to take their pills. (Robots, nurses, health, technology, 'will', 'by + verb + ing' used to say how something is done.)Pre-Intermediate

Runners Hit the Road
As budgets tighten and working lives get more stressful, running is experiencing a boom as people hit the parks and streets of their cities to escape from it all and keep themselves healthy for just the cost of a pair of sneakers. (Running, fitness, understanding statistics, role play on buying a pair of shoes.)Upper-Intermediate

Sports Bill No Laughing Matter
Jodi Furman likes to joke that she should paint her minivan yellow. That's because she basically turns into a taxi driver in the afternoons and on weekends, as she delivers her three children to various sports practices in Palm Beach, Florida. But the bill for all those sports is no laughing matter. (Families, sport, do, play or go.)Intermediate

Japan pocket Terminator
Don't let the fluffy socks fool you. Pint-sized Japanese wrestler Saori Yoshida could just be the most fearsome athlete in any sport at this year's London Olympics. (Wrestling, Japan, Summer Olympics)Pre-Intermediate

Olympian "Makes a Splash"
Cullen Jones was five when he almost drowned but rather than live in fear of water the American jumped back in with both feet, overcoming his fears to become an Olympic swimming gold medalist and drive a campaign to slash the drowning rate in the United States. (Swimming, the Olympics, matching sentence endings.)Upper-Intermediate

Sports Rights
The image of 24-year-old Nour Fitiany resting courtside as the pounding of basketballs and thumping of feet reverberated around her wouldn't merit a second glance in most countries. But in Saudi Arabia, where girls are banned from sports in state schools, powerful clerics castigate women for exercising and female gyms must adhere to strict regulations, Fitiany's ambition to play basketball - let alone represent her country in international tournaments - is a bold political statement.Advanced

Olympic Opening Ceremony
London's Olympic Stadium will be [turned] into a British meadow complete with fields, cows, ducks, a horse-drawn plough and a game of village cricket for the opening ceremony of this year's summer Games. (Olympic Games, opening ceremony, England.)Pre-Intermediate

An Olympic Love Story
Mention the name Missoni, and most think of a fashion empire that revolutionized textile patterns, spawned the no-bra look on the catwalks, and is now a global brand that designs everything from sweaters to sheets to hotels. But none of it would have happened had it not been for the 1948 London Olympics. (Sequencing, completing a table, predicting)Advanced

Eat Your Vegetables!
Japanese coaches are telling a Japanese table tennis player to eat more vegetables before the London Olympics. (Koki Niwa, sport, diet, vegetables, the Olympics, quantifiers.)Elementary

Petsercise
The world's biggest food group Nestle has launched an online program inviting pet owners to team up with their furry friends to lose weight and an dog food advertisement especially produced for dogs, not their owners. (Business, obesity, pet owners, pet food, cats and dogs, "to" for purpose, proper nouns, role play and advertisements.)Intermediate

Hold the Pillow Mint
Hotel chains are delivering everything from yoga videos to recumbent bicycles to guests who prefer to work out their jet lag, or shape up for that business meeting, in the privacy of their rooms. "Probably fitness equipment is the biggest request we get from guests." (Hotels, fitness, conducting an interview, writing an email, scanning, present continous.)Intermediate

Library Fines
The New York Public Library will waive the outstanding fines of up to 143,000 city children currently barred from borrowing new items on the condition they do one thing: read. Beginning on Monday, children enrolled in the library system's summer reading program will be able to knock $1 from their bill for every 15 minutes of reading they complete. (Libraries, debts, reading, describing a process, dialog and role play work.)Intermediate

Soccer Originals
Read about the world's oldest football rules and the world's oldest soccer ball. How have rules changed in the last 150 years? What does the world's oldest soccer ball look like? (Soccer, active / passive, history.)Intermediate

Use it or Lose it
Experts say for those 65 and over staying active and fit can spell the difference between independence and frailty. "It's all about moving." said Neal Pire, an exercise physiologist and spokesperson for the American College of Sports Medicine. "The phrase 'use it or lose it' works here."(Aging, exercise and health.)Upper-Intermediate

Grand Slam Champ
With six Wimbledon trophies already packed on to his mantelpiece, Roger Federer would like nothing more than to win a singles gold medal on the hallowed turf when it hosts the Olympic tennis event in 2012. (ambitions, ordering questions, completing a table, vocabulary)Advanced

Tips and Hints for Visitors
Commonwealth Games organizers have compiled an extensive list of hints and tips for visitors to the October event, the guide providing a valuable insight into social mores as well as helping to avoid embarrassing situations. (Commonwealth Games, sport, rules for behavior, New Delhi.)Upper-Intermediate

Couch Kids
American children aren't the only couch potatoes with nearly one third of children globally spending three hours a day or more watching TV or on computers, according to a study of over 70,000 teens. From Argentina to Zambia, researchers found most children aren't getting enough exercise and it made no difference if they lived in a rich or a poor country. (Children and physical activity, interpreting diagrams and graphs.)Intermediate

World Cup Hearing
World Cup fans should wear ear plugs to protect them from the blaring vuvuzela trumpets beloved by South African spectators, a hearing expert said. (Soccer World Cup, hearing loss, sport.)Upper-Intermediate

Cheer Up!
The women are elderly but they love cheerleading. They are 60 to 70 years old. The economy is weak in Japan but cheerleading is fun. (Hobbies, cheerleading and adjectives.)Elementary

Snatched Gold Returned
The "Mother of Judo" waited 50 years to get the gold medal that was snatched from her in her first serious competition, a gender injustice that fueled Rusty Kanokogi's winning crusade for women's judo in the Olympics. "This should never, never happen to a woman again in sports," Kanokogi said about the rage she felt back in 1959. (Women in sport, discrimination, biography, judo.)Advanced

The Beatles Leap Online
"The Beatles: Rock Band," marks the legendary band's first leap into selling their music digitally leading to much speculation on which songs would be used. For years, the Beatles' catalog of songs has not been available anywhere on Web sites such as iTunes. (Video games, music, The Beatles, modal passives.)Intermediate

Gold For Race
Naoko Takahashi, winner of the 2000 Sydney Olympic marathon, says she would swap her gold medal to run at the 2016 Games if they are awarded to Tokyo. (Winning, hornets, sport, first and second conditionals.)Intermediate

Fantasy Sport
Fantasy sports, where fans select real athletes for make-believe teams, are exploding onto new platforms like smart phones and social networking sites, grabbing the attention of advertisers and software companies. With a growing number of people playing casual games on the Internet and a largely untapped market outside the United States, analysts say the market for fantasy sports can only grow. (Fantasy sports, leisure, technology, conducting a survey, determining fact or opinion.)Advanced

No Medals For Athletes' Families
The families of athletes heading to the Beijing Games can only hope that years of scheduling meals, holidays and finances around their loved ones' sporting lives will be made worthwhile by Olympic success. (Sport, families, the Olympics, present simple tense to describe habits)Pre-Intermediate

Top International Travel Destinations
The Greek island of Rhodes was voted on Thursday as the top European location in a survey of the world's 100 best travel destinations. New Zealand topped the international survey. (Best travel destinations, geography, tourism, travel questionnaire, reading for numbers and facts, explaining a headline.)Upper-Intermediate

Bingo!
A cleaner won a record jackpot on Sunday but she says she still wants to be a cleaner. (Jackpots, winning, jobs, understanding the main idea, completing and conducting an interview, bingo, listening for numbers, listening to identify true or false statements.)Elementary

Boxing On
Kazumi Izaki is 44 years old. She has two daughters. She loves boxing. She is a professional boxer in Japan. (Boxing, women, occupations, present simple tense, family words)Elementary

Training Camp
Sweating, panting and some groaning, 400 Japanese worked out on Sunday with US fitness guru Billy Blanks, whose military-style exercises have become a huge hit in a country where waistlines are bulging. (Keeping fit, business ideas, conducting a survey.)Upper-Intermediate

Watching is Catching on
Armed with binoculars it takes to the bush to spot and identify winged creatures but this is not the common bird watcher -- it's the butterfly watcher, a relatively rare but fast growing species. (Butterflies and butterfly watching, conservation, hobbies, making predictions, comprehension, finding grammatical errors.)Advanced

Disney Magic in Hong Kong
Opened last September in Hong Kong, Disney's magic kingdom has failed to hit its full-year 5.6 million visitors attendance target. Disney has suffered a number of controversies, including a lockout of angry ticket holders during the crunch Lunar New Year holidays, and the public airing of grievances by its staff who complained of low wages and mistreatment. (Discussion, choosing the best headline, completing a table of information, brainstorming, definite and indefinite articles.)Advanced

Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship
Anyone wanting to throw away their mobile phone can do it in style and may even win a medal - at the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship in Finland. (Unusual events and festivals, mobile phones, playing games, Finland, speed reading, choosing the best answer, completing a summary)Pre-Intermediate

Running over with Happiness
Dean Karnazes is 42-years-old and loves running - he often runs all night. R. Laurence Macon is 67 and sometimes runs 7 marathons a week. He runs while he works. (Marathon running, hobbies and free time, introductions, matching and discussion, making questions, comprehension, present simple, be, checking information.)Elementary

Roman Chariots in England
Archaeologists have found remains of a chariot racing track in Colchester. 8,000 people probably watched chariot races at the track. Archaeologist, Philip Crummy thinks the track is one of the most exciting things he has found. (History, chariot racing, archaeology, the Romans, brainstorming, comprehension, true or false, reading for understanding, comparative adjectives and superlative adjectives.)Elementary

Skateboarding Online
A skateboarding priest is a YouTube hit and women in different countries are now skateboarding. One woman has started www.skateboardmom.com. (Sport, comprehension, complete the table, word order, true or false, the present continuous: is/am/are, extra reading.)Elementary

Talking Digitoys
Toys are changing fast, not least because their vocabulary is increasing, fast! New toys have computing power that makes them completely different to toys of even 10 years ago. There's even a doll that can read! (Toys, computer chips, children's development, scanning, writing definitions, identifying viewpoints, summarizing, discussion.)Advanced